Update Abroad: Mind The Gap

London may not be known as the city of love, but the Underground knows how to keep the romance alive.

Aside from Big Ben, London Bridge, and the London Eye, “Mind the Gap” is a London staple and a phrase that can be heard all over the city’s underground tube network.

Within London, there are two hundred and seventy tube stations, but only one plays one of the original recordings of the phrase by late actor Oswald Laurence.

Oswald Laurence was a British actor who never rose to fame on the stage, but made his mark in the late 1960’s as the voice behind the notable passenger warning. The London Underground used his voice across the city for decades until public announcement systems gradually began to take over. Eventually, Embankment station was the last to use his voice until they also phased it out.

Mr. Laurence’s wife, Margaret McCollum approached the Transport for London in 2013, and asked for them to restore his voice after his death, just so she could hear him again.

“Sounds good to me, sounds good to me, I love the idea that there’s a story behind the voice,” says Londoner and public speaker, Simon Bucknall.

Platform 4 of the Northern Line at Embankment station is currently the only location that continues to use Mr. Laurence’s iconic voiceover.

Follow Us

Temple Update, established in 1988, is a weekly, 30-minute news program produced by a staff of student volunteers and the TV News Production Practicum class (MSP/JRN 4596). The program covers news, events and personalities from campus and the greater Temple community.